This page is going to contain hints and tips on maintaining your garden equipment and cycles, to keep them working at their best. Also if you have a question do send it to us on the email form on the contacts page, and we will  answer by return and also post the answer on this page if we feel it would be of interest to others, it should build up into quite an informative page.

So for a first post I will give you a bit of advice on bringing your mower out of winter hibernation.  Firstly DO NOT tip your mower over to check under the deck! If you do, oil will get to the parts it is not meant to and you will spend lots of time cleaning it out of the air filter and carburettor. So tip it back onto the handles and inspect the blade (assuming its a rotary). Remove and sharpen, check its balanced before refitting by passing a screwdriver through the central hole and see it balances level. Ok so blade sharp and refitted. Check the oil level and top up if needed. Now remove the sparkplug and re attach the wire, lay it on a metal part of the engine and get someone to pull the starter while you look for a spark, if you see one all is well and you can refit the plug, if not try a new plug, if that doesn’t work you will need to get the ignition coil tested. Next remove the air filter cover and check on the filter itself, it it is foam or there is a foam pre cleaner these can be washed in soap and water, dry thoroughly and in the case of a foam filter a little oil should be applied and squeezed through, DON’T oil a pre cleaner, paper filters should not be washed, they can be blown (air line) brushed and or tapped to dislodge the dirt, if a paper filter is very dirty it will need to be replaced. Now you need to check the fuel, smell it, does it smell off? If it smells ok and there is enough in the tank, try to start it, bearing in mind that after the winter it will need a lot more priming or choke than it does during the season so persevere for a while. If the fuel smells a bit off you may need to have the system cleaned out, if its not too bad what you can try is to top up what’s in the tank with fresh fuel and proceed to try to start it. There you have the very basics of bringing a mower out of hibernation, hope you found it useful

One tip for you here which would account for 60% of all breakdowns we see.

Use a filter funnel when re fuelling all of your garden machinery and always clear any dust, grit or grass from around the filler cap first. Any dirt that gets into the fuel will eventually get into the carburettor and block the jets and stop the engine or make it run very rough. Another reason for filtering fuel is that it will trap any water within the fuel. Water is a disaster within the fuel system as it causes corrosion and can lead to the carburettor needing replacing (not cheap).

If you have a cycle with deuralier gears and they are a bit notchy or refuse to change gear then the chances are the chain is dry and requires oiling. Because this system has all the parts exposed it is vital that dirt and grit is cleaned off them regularly and that all parts are kept well lubricated. I would always recommend you clean and lubricate as above before making any adjustments to the deuraliers or cables, it can be beneficial to oil the cables too, especially if the problem is with either top or bottom gears.